Greek gov prosecuted 18 influencers for unlicensed gambling promotion

[Fortify]

It seems as though the Greek government is trying its best to prosecute people profiting from promoting unlicensed gambling. The current government introduced a licensing scheme for casinos and already more than a dozen are operating legally with licenses issued within the country. However, looking to avoid expensive licenses and regulatory procedures many casinos will skip the licensing procedures entirely and just go straight to guerilla promotion with influencers.

It's interesting seeing Greece take such a tough stance against gambling with the aim of bringing all legal sites "in house" and under their control. I just read that all legal gambling sites must be operating under a ".gr" domain as well. This news is going to spread far and wide within the country which is going to quickly shut down any users who have this sort of gambling promotion contract in place. I wonder if all advertising is banned entirely though or just needs to be transparently declared which is the method other countries use. I have a feeling that the level of fines against these people may be lower than their overall earnings from gambling deals, but it's likely they won't be doing it again.

[TopTort777]

Skipping all the illegal gambling platform part and how they avoid being caught, I would like to focus on influencers. They are the root of evil today. People who will promote anything for money, but then just by saying "I did not know that" always manage to get away from punishment. This is so good that at least someone among influencers got a punishment. Maybe that will sober youth from dreaming of becoming an influencer and earning by sitting at home, doing nothing.

[viljy]

If nearly 10% of the population are gamblers, then perhaps the government is doing something wrong in the economy, and not these people who play in casinos? In general, the number of gamblers is growing worldwide, and not because of influencers, but due to economic decline, the shrinking middle class, and rising poverty.

On the other hand, the spread of online casinos and bookmakers makes access easier, the low barrier to entry, and the use of cryptocurrencies also contribute to their popularity. I don’t see any tragedy in this. The growing popularity of gambling among the population is a consequence of economic problems; it is a kind of defensive reaction of the population. This cannot be changed simply through punishments and prohibitions.

[Marvelockg]

But 900000 people that’s almost 10% of country's population involved in illegal game! This is no small matter. It’s on massive scale. And often, it is these social media promoter who lead  general public astray.

Technically, this number reflect the people that are dealing with an unregulated gambling platform and so, if the Greek government had influence over these platforms, the fact that the 18 influencers are working with them would not have been a big deal. If you had out rightly banned all gambling platform, that is not supposed to be a big deal if you punish influencers for breaking the law. i bet that some of the influencers will claim that they were meant to believe that the ones they are promoting have the license to operate in their region.

[SatsPH]

It seems as though the Greek government is trying its best to prosecute people profiting from promoting unlicensed gambling. The current government introduced a licensing scheme for casinos and already more than a dozen are operating legally with licenses issued within the country. However, looking to avoid expensive licenses and regulatory procedures many casinos will skip the licensing procedures entirely and just go straight to guerilla promotion with influencers.

Hopefully, something will come up out of this and really go after that influencer, charge them and then they go to court. Otherwise, it will just go and continue and there could be more influencers that will be the next generation to promote gambling.

Just like in our country, there are a lot of social influencer who then shift to promote gambling. But from what I read, nothing has been charge, except that their social media account with millions of followers has been taken down.

But that's it, no jail time for them and so they won't learn their lessons and might still be doing it with another name.

[danherbias07]

That's a lot of victims that was fooled by the illegal online casinos and the influencers too.

I think this should be done in every country. Those influencers do not even think about the damage they will do to the families of the gamblers and the gamblers themselves. Sure, they made money by promoting them, but they should also think about the effects of it and the lives they will destroy once those illegal casinos scam their victims.
This actually happened in our country too. Many Facebook influencers, vloggers, and YouTubers also promoted scam betting sites, but they were not prosecuted. They were only warned about it, and thankfully, some of them stopped. Most of the time, they will promote it at the end of their clips like it was an advertisement on television.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

i bet that some of the influencers will claim that they were meant to believe that the ones they are promoting have the license to operate in their region.

I don’t think they’re stupid enough to claim that. And certainly not if they’re represented by a solicitor, which would be the norm. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for failing to comply with it, and in this case, alleged ignorance of what constitutes illegal casino activity is no excuse either. It’s plausible that a 90-year-old grandfather in a remote village in Greece might not know whether a particular online casino is licensed to operate in Greece or not, but it’s not plausible for these influencers, who are digitally savvy.

[oll]

It seems as though the Greek government is trying its best to prosecute people profiting from promoting unlicensed gambling. The current government introduced a licensing scheme for casinos and already more than a dozen are operating legally with licenses issued within the country. However, looking to avoid expensive licenses and regulatory procedures many casinos will skip the licensing procedures entirely and just go straight to guerilla promotion with influencers.

These casinos change their domains every day or so to avoid blocks playing cat and mouse games with the government. Perhaps the owners of these casinos were registering the legal entities abroad and maybe even they themselves were abroad. As per the soft2bet scandal many of Europe's illegal casinos had their true beneficiary behind them in Israel!

As for Greece, the ministry stated around 900 thousand people last year alone played in illegal casinos. For a country of 10 million people, that surely is significant.

Source in Greek: https://www.megatv.com/2026/10/07/minyseis-se-18-influencers-gia-proothisi-paranomou-tzogou/

Source in English:
https://europeangaming.eu/portal/latest-news/2026/10/08/215644/greece-18-influencers-criminal-complaints-illegal-gambling/

Anyone who gambles illegally at a casino can't be guaranteed to receive their winnings. The fact is, if gambling is prohibited in your country, you'll likely only access the online casino website through a VPN. And the casino will let you keep playing. If you lose all your deposited money, you can just walk away.
But if you win, the casino might refuse to pay you your winnings, citing their internal rules stating that a VPN is not a permitted means of hiding a player's true IP address. This happens, and it turns out the government won't do anything to help the player. But in a licensed casino, it would.

[Makus]

What do you mean by prosecuted, you mean kill these influencers for promoting unlicensed casinos in Greece? I need to understand you with the choice of word you used to describe this news my friend.
After all, this isn't new to me, I've seen lots of news exagarating on this in many news outlet.

No pal, prosecution means taking legal action against an individual or organization and not execution, morever it's not a case of homicide so it cannot get to that. The word here that he used is the right word and not in anyway exaggerated, I'm sure you are the one that's misunderstanding this. The Greece government are only going to take them to court and probably slam them with a law suit, that's all.

In some countries the law clearly states that promotion of unlicensed gambling platforms can lead to a jail sentence, might not be for a long period of time but it would definitely take more than 6 months.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Good decision to prosecute those who promoted offshore sites on Greek. They have been allowing gamble on their territory, and it's such a big lose for any of gambling operators who have been officially registered in HGC (greek's official gambling commission). I've heard that those 18 influencers will be facing up to €50k for any violation they conducted.
I see this as their effort to protect their legalized casino. I send them an applause for their action. But i think they can increase the fine to be up to €150k per violation to ensure no influencers in their country will be accepting a contract to promote the offshore sites.

[SuperBitMan]

Influencers should make their investigation very well to making sure the gambling site they want to advertise for or promote is licensed in their country. I noticed most influencers are not like this, all they care for mostly is the money that the gambling sites are paying them. This is happening in many countries. Gambling sites that want to operate in a country should get gambling license in the country. And at least the influencers in the country should be careful before promoting the sites. But government should also warn the influencers before taking action.

All these influencers do not care about people, all they care about is the money that they will get from anything they promote, if they really care about people they will be very careful not to advertise things that may cause harm to the people.
Influencers has advertised drugs that has killed people, they have advertised cryptocurrencies that they know is a scam, they do all this because of the money.

Don’t be surprised that those influencers that we are advertising this casinos or gambling platforms already know that they are not licensed in the country. They just want to make a quick money.
I love what the government did to those influencers they deserve it.

[Karl_3000]

What do you mean by prosecuted, you mean kill these influencers for promoting unlicensed casinos in Greece?

You could have just searched for what prosecution is if you do not know the meaning. It only means that the influencers are having legal actions from the law like police or law enforcements, like arresting them and charging them to court. This kind of prosecution can not be up to sentencing the influencers to death.

[alani123]

This situation in Greece is absolutely mind boggling. I’m not sure if it’s entirely right for government’s regulatory body EEEP to file criminal complaint against those 18 influencer and streamer. But 900000 people that’s almost 10% of country's population involved in illegal game! This is no small matter. It’s on massive scale. And often, it is these social media promoter who lead  general public astray.

You're right on the approach that you have. While the government is in my opinion on the right to prosecute those profiting from illegal gambling they're also to blame for widespread addiction and desperation. First of all the benefits that the state gets from high taxes don't go back to the people so the widest part of the economy isn't doing well and in such people turn to gambling en masses largely due to desperation.

But also the Greek gov has allowed the licensed casinos to plaster ads everywhere and without limit. They're becoming sponsors even in amsteur leagues where kids can play. You can see their ads on the street, on the metro and besides every TV program. So when people become so familiar with gambling the casinos they turn to is whatever casino gets promoted. Of course if illegal casinos are the ones who receive exposure in online streams and through influencers many people are going to turn there.

In the end, the government should also treat the problem a bit holistically and try to also reduce addiction aside of just reducing illegal gambling promotion because addiction is also a huge problem. Right now they're only doing the licensed casinos s favour, and not the people of the country many of which are very addicted.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

What do you mean by prosecuted, you mean kill these influencers for promoting unlicensed casinos in Greece?

You could have just searched for what prosecution is if you do not know the meaning. It only means that the influencers are having legal actions from the law like police or law enforcements, like arresting them and charging them to court. This kind of prosecution can not be up to sentencing the influencers to death.

And probably they will get just a slap in the wrist, of amongst the 18 there could be just one sacrificial lamb so that the people will be satisfied that their government has done something to somewhat curb gambling addiction.

But we have seen in several countries that it's really very hard to stop it per se. There will be a lot of gamblers that will try to circumvent it, even if their government are going full blown ban on online or illegal gambling sites promotions.

[Mr. Magkaisa]

I hope this can be implemented for all country as online gambling is one of the most fastest platform in getting more numbers of people day by day. I will not be surprise that many family will be broken, a lot of young people will be addicted in gambling, and some people will be jailed because of money matters and involved in illegal doing. Gambling is fun and entertaining but for some people it is addiction and can be too dangerous. I am hoping that it will be implemented here in our country too but the corruption will not let it For the greek people, you are lucky to have that.

[bakasabo]

Good decision to prosecute those who promoted offshore sites on Greek. They have been allowing gamble on their territory, and it's such a big lose for any of gambling operators who have been officially registered in HGC (greek's official gambling commission). I've heard that those 18 influencers will be facing up to €50k for any violation they conducted.
I see this as their effort to protect their legalized casino. I send them an applause for their action. But i think they can increase the fine to be up to €150k per violation to ensure no influencers in their country will be accepting a contract to promote the offshore sites.

Good tactics prosecuting not the casino, but those who make this casino gain popularity, recognition and attract customers to casino. If they manage to stop or decrease flow of new customers, casinos will die by itself. End advertisement and less people will use unlicensed casinos. Size of the penalty is also reasonable. Next time someone decide to promote something shady will think before accepting the deal.

[m2017]

It seems as though the Greek government is trying its best to prosecute people profiting from promoting unlicensed gambling.

All the government wants to do is prosecute. Instead of creating conditions (favorable, clear, and reliable ones) that would make casinos come to get licensed voluntarily, rather than running away.

The current government introduced a licensing scheme for casinos and already more than a dozen are operating legally with licenses issued within the country.

A license (call it what you will, but in reality, it is a "payoff" to a powerful entity capable of meting out punishment) represents the fine line between a casino operating illegally and legally.

However, looking to avoid expensive licenses and regulatory procedures many casinos will skip the licensing procedures entirely and just go straight to guerilla promotion with influencers.

This is because they dislike the official "extortion". Regulators shouldn't simply demand payment for the right to operate; they need to offer something in return to the gambling industry to make obtaining a license worthwhile.

Furthermore, the online nature of casinos creates opportunities to evade regulators - opportunities that casinos, naturally, don't pass up.

These casinos change their domains every day or so to avoid blocks playing cat and mouse games with the government.

Because it works out "cheaper" than buying a license. As long as it remains economically advantageous (and opportunities remain), casinos will continue to evade regulators.

Perhaps the owners of these casinos were registering the legal entities abroad and maybe even they themselves were abroad.

For no one wants to be held accountable.

As for Greece, the ministry stated around 900 thousand people last year alone played in illegal casinos. For a country of 10 million people, that surely is significant.

Did you mean a country with high tourist traffic?

[Agbamoni]

It seems as though the Greek government is trying its best to prosecute people profiting from promoting unlicensed gambling.

This is the type of trap journalists set up against people, organizations, and the government.

In this first sentence. The statement should be "it seems as though the Greek government is trying its best to prosecute people promoting unlicensed gambling". Instead, you decide to add profiting to make the government look bad. As if the government is stopping people from making money through their influence. From the article I read, the Greek government is interested in all influencers promoting unlicensed gambling, whether they are profiting from it or not.

Whattttt 

It's amazing how reading my post your mind got so stuck in the word profit.
When you promote a referral to a casino is it for charity or for profit?
Just consider, the revenue on referral deals comes from Pepe losing money in the casino. It certainly isn't a mutually beneficial transaction.

Nothing of what I said here is making the government look bad, I really have zero idea how you jumped to that conclusion just because I said people who promote illegal casinos do it for profit.

Buddy I hate the government more than you do. I will not support them for any reason, but I read deeper meaning to words. Deeper than the ordinary meaning. Many will interpret it this way. Since the statement was more specific on profit.

All I’m saying is there are influencers doing this for profit but yet to get profit. Were they persecuted too by the government or they were left out because they haven’t made profit ?

[angrybirdy]

Good decision to prosecute those who promoted offshore sites on Greek. They have been allowing gamble on their territory, and it's such a big lose for any of gambling operators who have been officially registered in HGC (greek's official gambling commission). I've heard that those 18 influencers will be facing up to €50k for any violation they conducted.
I see this as their effort to protect their legalized casino. I send them an applause for their action. But i think they can increase the fine to be up to €150k per violation to ensure no influencers in their country will be accepting a contract to promote the offshore sites.

Good tactics prosecuting not the casino, but those who make this casino gain popularity, recognition and attract customers to casino. If they manage to stop or decrease flow of new customers, casinos will die by itself. End advertisement and less people will use unlicensed casinos. Size of the penalty is also reasonable. Next time someone decide to promote something shady will think before accepting the deal.

I do agree that it does help to go after those that promote and advertise the illegal casinos. They heavily depend on influencers, celebrities and public figures to increase their popularity and pull in new clients or users. Authorities can make it more difficult for these casinos to grow in audience, as they are holding the promoters responsible for their actions. But enforcement should also include public education on the dangers of illegal gambling, and toughening the regulation of the illegal operators. a reasonable penalties are significant because they make people realise that whatever they do to promote illegal activities, they will have to face the consequences as well. In the end, it is possible to save additional people from entering into illegal gambling through reducing advertisement and public exposure and enforcing the law.

[xenomorfo]

All these influencers do not care about people, all they care about is the money that they will get from anything they promote, if they really care about people they will be very careful not to advertise things that may cause harm to the people.
Influencers has advertised drugs that has killed people, they have advertised cryptocurrencies that they know is a scam, they do all this because of the money.

Don’t be surprised that those influencers that we are advertising this casinos or gambling platforms already know that they are not licensed in the country. They just want to make a quick money.
I love what the government did to those influencers they deserve it.

The influencers were also a bit annoyed, after having been paid to say that everything was fine in Gaza, how can you trust these people who would sell their mother for two cents?
You just don't do it, because there's just nothing reliable about them.